Chinchilla Community Forums
Chinchillas => Q & A => Topic started by: Dex21 on June 22, 2015, 02:26:27 PM
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Hey guys! I am new to owning a chinchilla (I got my little buddy, Dex, about 2 months ago) so he is only about 8 months old now. I have one of those 4-story cages (roughly about 6 feet tall) and he loves to hangout on the very top of the cage (I put a blanket over it to both give him some darkness inside as well as protect his feet when he is on top). Though last night he was very antsy and looked over the end of the top of the cage, and then fell. At first he hid under the cage for about 5 minutes (he seemed scared/shocked), however after that he was running around and acting like his crazy self. Today he seemed okay, however small noises would make him flee quickly (though he is normally like this in the morning). He woke up for about 30 minutes this morning and was crawling on my arms, however he was not climbing the way he normally does. He seemed a bit more 'cautious' and seemed to be digging his paws into my arms (sort of like what they do in a dust bath before cleaning themselves). It seems like he was just trying to get a grip on my arms, but he has climbed my arm a hundred times and has never done anything like this. Other than this he seems fine, but I am honestly a bit worried that he might have hurt himself. Could someone please assist me with this issue and what I can do to make sure he is okay (before taking him to the vet to get checked out, if need be)? Thank you so much guys!
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If you think your chinchilla is acting like he is injured get him checked out. Make sure he is eating and drinking normally. What you describe seems to me like a chinchilla that learned the hard way that falling from height is dangerous and is likely compensating to make sure it won't happen again because it probably doesn't know exactly how that happened.
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Thank you so much for the advice! I checked him out all yesterday and he was eating/drinking normally and seemed to be acting like his crazy self. He wanted to come out of his cage to play all last night. It doesn't seem like he is hurt but are there any certain signs (besides eating/drinking habits) that I should look for to make sure?
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Actually eating and drinking are the big ones. I think that if he got hurt from the fall it probably would have affected his ability to move. At this point I don't think you have anything to worry about. The most common injury from falling is typically if they fall onto a hard surface face first and it can result in a bloody nose or cuts from their front teeth. If that happened it wouldn't be eating right and you'd probably need to get it checked out to make sure the teeth are okay. Second most common is sprain injuries that usually heal up after a week or two and sometimes those can cause enough pain to cause them to stop eating. More serious injuries such as dislocated limbs or internal bleeding usually have a lot more symptoms.
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Thank you very much for the advice GrayRodent :)
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I would make sure you weigh him weekly as if he knocked his teeth it may cause the roots to grow funny and he will start to lose weight due to pain whilst eating (this may happen months down the line). Hopefully he will be fine and has just shocked himself but its better to be cautious.